Washing-wjachine



(No Model.)

WASHING MACHINE.

No. 378,248. Patented Feb 21, 1888.

witnesses ATENT Civics.

IL-LIAM C. EDWARDS, OF WVINSTED, CONNECTICUT.

WASHING- MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part. of Letters Patent No. 378.2%3. dated February 21, 1888.

Applicafion filed January 10, 1887. Serial No. 223,983. (No model.)

T 0 (LE whom it may concern.-

%c it known that I, WILLIAM G. EDWARDS, of Winsted, in the county of Litchfield and State of Connecticut, have inventeda new and useful Improvement in lVashing-Machines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the'accompanying drawings, forming part thereof.

My invention relates to that class of washing-machines in which the clothes are agitated within a tnbor other waterreceptacle by means of vibratory bars or levers, and has for its object to improve such machines by providing novel means for alternately compressing and releasing the clothes, whereby they are thoroughly cleansed without being torn or otherwise injured.

To this end my invention consists in the construction and combination of parts hereinafter fullydescribed, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, in whichlike letters designate like parts in the several figures, Figure 1 is a perspective View of a washingmachine constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional View of the clothes receptacle and agitator. Fig. 3 is a similar view, thereof in adifferent position.

Fig. l is a perspective view of the clothcs-receptacle and the hand-lever for operating the same, the operative position of said parts relatively to the tub or water-receptacle being in dicated by dotted lines. Fig. 5 is a perspec tive view of the machine as arranged to be operated by power.

The tub or receptacle for the suds consists of the ends A, sides B, and cover 0, said sides preferably converging to a point at the bottom, as shown, for the threefold purpose of economizing the material from which the tub is made, reducing the number of j oints,thercby lessening liability to leakage, and to cause the water to constantly seek the lowest point, where it can be readilydrawn oft'by removing plug a. The cover 0 is preferably provided with a centrally-located vertical extension, E, and with slots D,oxtending inwardly from one side, for purposes hereinafter set forth. The tub thus constructed will be supported by the legs a, united by braces b, as shown, or in any other suitable manner.

The clothes receptacle and agitator (shown in perspectivein Fig. 4. and in transverse section in Figs. 2 and 3) is constructed as follows:

The ends are composed of two systems of com- V pound levers, each consisting of the parallel bars K and transverse parallel bars L, ar-

ranged in the form of a parallelogram. The

ends of the central rod, N, are extended be yond the ends of the receptacle to form journals I, by means of which the receptacle is suspended within the tub in the position in dicated in Fig. 4, said journals I resting upon bearings secured to the inner side of the ends of the tub, which bearings are shown in dotted lines in said Fig. 4.. The journals I thus serve as the fulcrum upon which the C0111- pound levers forming the ends of the receptacle operate.

The receptacle thus constructed can be made to assume either of the positions shown in Figs.

2 and 3 through the action of the compound levers, or can be still further compressed, if desired, until the opposite rods N or 0 contact with each other. By means of said levers, also, a vibrating movement imparted to either of the side rods will be communicated to the four sides of the receptacle simultaneously. It follows, therefore, that when the re ceptacle is supported, as previously described, within the tub, a vibratory movement imparted to one of the rods will cause the same to be compressed, first horizontally, as shown in Fig. 3, and'then vertically.

In Figs. 1 and 4 I have shown as one means of imparting this movement to the receptacle a hand-lever composed of two parallel bars, G, having open slots W at one end and united at the opposite end by a hand-bar, F. The bars G are mounted upon a shaft, H, which journals in suitable bearings in the ends A of the tub, as shown in Fig. 1, the slotted ends of said bars extending within the tub and their outer portion lying within the slots D of the cover, previously described. The bearings for ICC said shaft II will preferably consist of open slots in the upper edge of the ends of the tub, near one side thereof, so that the operatinglever can be readily applied to and removed 5 from the tub, and will be retained in operative position by the cover 0, which closes the month of said slots when placed on the tub.

The open slots .V at the ends of bars G are designed to embrace one of the rods of the clothes-receptacle, preferably the one designated by the letter M in Figs. 1 and 2, when the hand-lever is in operative position.

Instead of making the tub deep enough to permit the vertical elongation of the recepta- 13 cle beneath a flat cover, I prefer to provide the latter with a vertical extension, E, previously referred to, thereby affording ample space for the movements of the receptacle, with a considerable saving in the material from which the tub is made.

The operation of the machine as thus far described is as follows: The clothes (designated by the letter X in Fig. 4) being placed within the receptacle, and the tub being par- 2 5 tially filled with suds, so that the clothes are submerged therein, the operating lever is placed in position with its end slots embracing rod M of the receptacle and its shaft H seated in its bearings in the ends of the tub, after which the cover 0 is placed on the tub with its slots D embracing bars G of said lever. The operating-lex'er is then vibrated about its shaft by means of hand-bar F, causing the receptacle to be compressed first vertically and then horizontally, agitating the clothes therein in such manner as to quickly and thoroughly remove all dirt and impurities therefrom; and the clothes being compressed against the central rod, N, by the rods composing the sides 0 of the receptacle and then released with every vibration of the operating-lever, there is no strain exerted upon them to injure them in any way.

It will be observed that the leverage exerted 5 by the levers K L upon the fulcrum consisting of the journals I adds materially to the ease with which the machine is operated, and this feature constitutes an important difference between the machine constructed according to my invention and those heretofore devised, in which a collapsible and expansible agitator having four sides without the levers at the ends is employed. In these last-mentioned machines the agitator is secured either to the bottom of the tub or to the cover thereof, and the entire weight of the clothes within the agi tator comes upon the single main operatinglever, rendering the working of the machine an operation of much labor.

As it will sometimes be convenient and desirable to operate the machine by power instead of by hand, I have shown in Fig. 5 one arrangement of devices for such purpose, in which R designates a shaft driven by any suitable motor; S, one of the hangers for said shaft;

T, a crank-disk upon said shaft; U, the crankpin, and V a pitman operated by said disk and crank-pin. The pitman at its lower end passes through a slot, 1?, in the cover of the machine, and is connected in any suitable man ner to the rod N at the upper corner of the clothes-receptacle. Revolution of the shaft will, through the crank-disk and pitman, operate the receptacle in the same manner as previously described with reference to the hand-lever.

It will be observed that the machine as above described is simple and inexpensive in structure and yet effective in operation.

So far as I am aware the clothes receptacle and agitator above described is broadly new, and I therefore do not wish to limit myself to its use with the particular tub shown, as it is obvious that the latter could be modified in form and capacity without departing from this feature of my invention. It is also obvious that other means for operating the receptacle-could be substituted for those shown and described without affecting the novelty of thereceptacle itself.

I claim 1. In a washing machine, a collapsible clothes-receptacle consisting of parallel bars K and transverse parallel bars L at the ends, said bars being pivotally connected at their intersecting points by rods N and intermediate rods, O, arranged and operating substan tially as described.

2. In a washing-machine, the combination, with a tub or suds-holder, of a clothes-receptacle consisting of the rods N, pivot-ally connecting at each end, the parallel bars K, with' the transverse parallel bars L at the intersecting points of said bars, intermediate rods, 0, and means for imparting a vibratory movement to one of said rods N, and through said rod to the receptacle, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a washing-machine, the combination,

- with a tub or suds-holder, of a clothes-receptacle consisting of parallel bars K and transverse parallel bars L at the ends, rods N, pivotally connecting said bars, and intermediate rods, 0, and having journals I at the ends, and bearings located within the tub for supporting saidj ournals, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination, with a tub or sudsholder, of the clothes-receptacle having the compound levers at the ends, rods NO, connecting said levers, and having the journals I projecting beyond said ends and resting in suitable support-s upon the inner side of the wall of the tub, and an operatinglever consisting of the bars G, shaft H, and hand-bar F, said shaft being j-ournaled in the wall of the tub, and said bars G having slotted inner ends embracing one of the rods of the clothesreceptacle, substantially as shown and described.

VILLIAM C. EDYVARDS.

\Vitnesses:

JAMES A. MURPHY, W. H. CHAPMAN.

ITO 

